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Run To the Border
Wednesday, August 31, 2005-7:22 PM
August 30 was the last day my visa was valid. In order to remain in China legally, I had to once again cross the border into Hong Kong and cross back into mainland China using the second and last entry of my double-entry visa.
Everyone keeps telling me there are ways to obtain visas that are valid for more than 30 days even if you are American, and I've even met Americans traveling on 60 day visas. But when it comes time to getting one myself, I never get anywhere.
After checking out a few other guest houses in the A-Block of the Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road, I decided to return to the one I stayed at before, The Traveler's Hostel on the 16th floor.
The same people that I saw a month ago were still there, still watching American T.V. and smoking cigarettes. I don't think they remembered me.
I asked the manager if he could get me a visa that was valid for more than 30 days. He told me he couldn't. He said things changed, and for the time being it's impossible.
Before I joined the others watching T.V., I took one final walk around Hong Kong, up and down Nathan Road, drinking coffee and paying no attention to anyone selling me suits, watches, or marijuana.
One young westerner, perhaps trying to impress his girlfriend, tried to give one of the Indian lads selling copy watches a piece of his mind in the most ineffectual laughable manner.
Instead of just walking on when asked if he was interested in a fake Rolex, he looked at the guy and sad flat out, "How about a real Rolex?"
No, they don't sell real Rolex's. They sell fake ones. Real Rolex's are expensive.
I went back to the Chungking Mansions. The manager explained to a fellow traveler and I what the situation was like years ago in the Chungking Mansion, when Indian and Pakistani gangs ruled the place. When the drug sale was even more lively than it is now.
I can't imagine what it was like then. Even now, it's not the most savory of places.
Another guest showed up to keep things interested. He was a Singaporean with an Algerian father. He was intent on making conversation with anyone who would talk to him, especially foreigners.
He came up with the strangest things, anything he could think of to get a conversation going. He asked me if I was from Israel and told me I looked Jewish. He went out of his way to explain how much he hated Osama Bin Laden.
The other's were pretty much annoyed with him until he'd finally hit on something they were interested in. Then they couldn't stop talking.
I couldn't sleep because of all the coffee I drank. I was the last to go to bed.
I probably earned the ire of a fellow traveler, when I made a pit stop at the bathroom on my way to bed and, instead of turning on the light for my bathroom, turned the light off for his bathroom whilst he was, presumably, taking a crap.
I never turned the light back on, and karma caught up with me. I went into the dorm room and found another guest had laid out all his gear on my bed. I hopped onto to the top bunk and, the bed was so unstable, I thought it was going to fall right out the window, which would have been quite unfortunate since we were on the top floor.
The next morning the trip to Guangzhou couldn't have been quicker. There was virtually no one else in line at either the Hong Kong or the Mainland China border crossing checkpoints. I was back in around three hours.
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